


i wish i had known you when we were young

by yawwwrp



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Sickfic, someone gets a cold, wholesome tooth-rotting fluff for the whole family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27897850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawwwrp/pseuds/yawwwrp
Summary: Stray Kids wake up as literal kids, Minho and Changbin have to keep the chaotic bunch alive until they turn back to normal.
Relationships: Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin
Comments: 19
Kudos: 152





	i wish i had known you when we were young

**Author's Note:**

> Okay look, I am physically incapable of stopping when enough is enough so this happened.
> 
> The most unrealistic thing in here is probably not someone spontaneously turning into a child but Changbin cooking. Anyway all of this is probably wildly out of character but we just gonna deal i guess.
> 
> idk what to say, man. it's just a whole lot of fluff and not very coherent. my bad oops
> 
> title is from Texas by Magic Man (it's a good bop, check it out.)
> 
> Edit: forgot to say it, but this was inspired by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9ORMOx3LW0

A small hand slapped Changbin’s face and the following giggle made him open his eyes. In front of him, like some sleep drunken hallucination, was a small child in an adult sized t-shirt, laughing at him and getting ready for another slap.

Changbin scooted back on the bed and the kid missed, pouting for a moment. The kid shrugged his shoulders and ran out of the room, almost stumbling over his own feet. For a moment, Changbin watched in confusion and rubbed his eyes before his mind registered what just happened. He shot up from the bed and ran after the kid, out into the living room.

He was not prepared for the sight greeting him on this cold autumn Saturday morning. Four little boys, no older than six at the most, turned their heads to him from the couch. Some cartoon was running on tv and Changbin darted his eyes over to the kitchen to see Minho at the stove, another boy clinging onto his back, one more sitting at the kitchen table, eating what looked like scrambled eggs.

“Get off my back, you’re gonna hurt yourself!”, Minho said in a firm voice, crouching down to let the boy back down to the floor. “Sit at the table, I’ll give you breakfast.” The boy obediently walked over to join the other kid at the table as Minho put a plate of food down for him. As Minho turned to walk back to the stove, he saw Changbin and quickly walked over to him. “Thank  _ god _ . We need to talk.” He slung the kitchen towel he was carrying over his shoulder and pulled Changbin back into his room.

Changbin listened to Minho’s recounting of the events of this morning with speechless wonder.

“First of all, I’m glad you’re-”, Minho paused for a moment, “-an adult. I know you’re not going to believe me, because I wouldn’t believe it myself but those kids are the members.” Minho looked at him with a desperate expression, hoping it would make Changbin believe him.

“You’re kidding me.”

Minho shook his head and sighed. “Like I said, I know you’re not going to believe me. But they woke me up and I questioned them on things only they would know and...yeah. I don’t know how this happened either.”

Changbin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When the company told them yesterday that they would get a week off to themselves, all he had wanted to do was relax, maybe take a trip to visit his family and overall just not deal with any craziness.  _ This _ was definitely craziness.

“So you’re telling me by some weird voodoo magic a group of young adults turned into preschoolers overnight.”

Minho nodded. “I need your help. We can’t let anyone know about this and I don’t know how to look after a bunch of kids.”

Changbin was surprised to see Minho adopt a parental role so quickly but couldn’t hold back a laugh. “And I know? How would I know what to do with children?”

Minho shrugged. “I don’t know but we need to figure it out and hopefully get this shit resolved within the next week. Otherwise…” He couldn’t finish his sentence and Changbin was glad he didn’t.

A scream from the living room interrupted their conversation, followed by a loud thump and more screaming, signalling the end of their talk time.

-

An hour later, all children dressed in the most well fitting clothes they could come up with on the spot, everyone found themselves in the living room. The kids sat on the couch, big eyes fixed on Minho standing in front of them. Changbin had chosen to sit on the floor next to the kids, keeping an eye out for any troublemakers.

“Okay, kids. Here’s the deal. There are some things you can’t do, okay?” Minho bent down a bit to be more on eye level with them. “You can’t hit your brothers, okay. No hitting, no spitting, no hair pulling, no kicking. Understood?”

Changbin nudged the kid sized version of Felix sitting next to him in the leg. 

“Yes, understood.” Felix answered with a bright smile, the other boys following his example.

Minho nodded. “Okay, good. Also, you need to listen to what Changbin and I say. If we say no or stop it, you have to listen to that.” A chorus of ‘Understood!’ followed. “And the most important thing is that you can’t tell anyone who you are. If anyone asks you, you are Changbin’s and my cousins, okay?”

The kids nodded and it seemed like Minho was beginning to lose their attention as Jisung started tickling Chan’s leg, who kept trying to swat his hands away with an annoyed look.

“And don’t talk to strangers!”, Changbin piped up from the floor, raising his voice to get Jisung to look at him as well.

Minho raised an eye on him and Changbin shrugged with an apologetic smile.

“Okay. Fine, so… I don’t know, go play or something. Don’t break anything and don’t scream.” Minho turned and walked into the kitchen to deal with the dishes left behind from breakfast.

Changbin made sure the kids didn’t start fighting straight away and pushed the coffee table away to make room for them to play on the floor as well before going to his room to search for some games or plushies. He was about to hand his precious Gyu over, but decided that a group of children couldn’t be trusted and put it back down on his bed. He found a puzzle and some card games that seemed fairly easy and joined the kids in the living room again.

His brain still didn’t fully believe that this was a real thing actually happening to him right now, but if he thought about it, he would probably go insane so he just busied himself keeping the other members occupied.

Every now and then he heard Minho humming some song in the kitchen and found him a while later, sitting at the kitchen table, focused on his phone. Felix, Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jeongin were busy trying to figure out how to build a puzzle that was intended for people much older than them and Jisung and Chan had finally stopped trying to wrestle each other and were coming up with some made up language that sounded weirdly like some eurodance song from the 90s to Changbin. He thought he wasn’t really needed to chaperone them at the moment and made coffee for Minho and himself before joining him at the table.

“Find anything?” He pushed one of the mugs towards Minho, who looked up from his phone momentarily and muttered a thanks, taking a sip of the coffee.

“I mean… weirdly enough, I think so?”

Changbin’s ears perked up and he leaned closer to look at Minho’s phone. He had a tab for some paranormal website open and showed him a paragraph talking about ‘Spontaneous De-Aging’, which apparently was a thing - at least for tinfoil hats conspiracy theorists.

Changbin downed the rest of his coffee and leaned back. “Does it say anything about how to make them into normal people again?”

Minho sighed. “Since there’s no evidence any of this ever happened other than some people on the internet saying it happened to a friend of a friend, not really. Someone suggested that something needs to be  _ ‘fixed in the fabric of the universe’ _ . So, yeah.” Changbin could practically hear Minho’s eyeroll in his voice.

“So then, what? Should we ask them if there’s some unfinished business they need to resolve?”

Minho raised an eyebrow at him. “They’re children, not ghosts.”

Changbin shrugged. “Just saying. That’s what it sounds like to me.”

Minho hummed and they sat in silence for a while, the chatter of the other members echoing from the living room.

“Why are we the only normal ones though?”, Changbin asked and Minho dropped his phone to the table to rest his chin on his hands.

“No clue. Been wondering that since you got up.”

Changbin got up to put the mugs in the dishwasher and called back to Minho, “We should go grocery shopping.” He stopped, thinking of the members. “I guess one of us needs to stay here.”

Minho hummed, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, you go. Get some clothes for them too, maybe.”

Changbin nodded and went to his room to get dressed. When he left the dorm to make a grocery trip, he was inwardly thanking all gods that he didn’t have to deal with this alone.

-

Changbin returned two hours and six shopping bags in his hands later to find the members lying on the couch and on a blanket Minho must have put on the floor, staring at Minho, who was currently reading to them from a book.

Minho looked up to Changbin entering for a moment before continuing. Changbin kicked off his shoes and stowed away the groceries before taking the remaining shopping bags filled with kids clothes to the living room, joining Hyunjin, Felix and Chan on the blanket. 

He didn’t know what went down while he was gone, but Minho’s hair was all over the place, a blue streak of color on his cheek and a sticker stuck to the shirt on his chest.

Changbin was lying on his stomach, which prompted Hyunjin and Felix to pile on top of him with a giggle, Minho stopping for a moment before continuing the story. The exhaustion of the day’s events led Changbin to close his eyes for a moment, Minho’s soft voice a constant stream of noise only interrupted when one of the kids asked a question. He willed his eyes to open again and forced himself to not fall asleep. It was late in the afternoon and they would have to make some dinner soon.

When he looked back to Minho, he found the older staring at him with an intense look. Minho quickly looked back down to the book he was reading from and Changbin only just noticed that Stephen King was probably not an appropriate thing to read for a group of children.

Beside him, Chan was starting to get antsy and Hyunjin had resorted to turning Changbin’s hair into weird shapes, pulling on the strands every now and then.

“Guys, how about some tv while Minho and I make some dinner, how does that sound?” He earned a grateful look from Minho who closed the book and turned on the tv for them, Hyunjin and Felix climbing off of Changbin’s back to get a better view. Changbin lifted himself up and ruffled Felix’ hair. “Don’t fight while we cook, okay?”

The boys replied in unison. “Okay!”

Seeing Minho pulling ingredients from the fridge with messy hair and tired eyes, Changbin felt a bit guilty. He quickly joined the other and got pots and pans on the stove.

“How was it while I was gone?”

Minho snorted. “I got attacked by a group of children.” He narrowed his eyes at Changbin. “Don’t ever tell that to anyone.”

Changbin grinned but lifted his hands up in surrender. “Not gonna.”

They prepared dinner as quickly as they could and Changbin carried the plates to the living room, telling the members to gather around the coffee table, he pushed back to the center of the room. Dinner went by peacefully and the members seemed satisfied, full and sleepy afterwards. 

Minho sacrificed himself to deal with the dishes and told Changbin to deal with the others while he went to take a shower. 

“Binnieeee!” Jisung and Hyunjin pulled on Changbin’s sleeves as he watched the others resume some drawings they apparently started earlier, which explained Minho’s colored cheek.

“What’s up, little guys?” He turned his attention to them as they stared at him with big eyes.

“Did you really fight a bear?”, Jisung questioned, balling his hands into tiny fists. Hyunjin nodded along, “Yes, did you?”

Changbin chuckled at the thought. “What makes you think I fought a bear?”

Hyunjin and Jisung exchanged a confused look before Jisung spoke up again. “Minho said that if anyone is mean to us we have to tell him and you because you can scare them away and that you are strong because you fought a bear once.”

Changbin’s eyebrows shot up and he wondered for a moment what else Minho had told them. “He’s right. I’m very strong, so if anyone is mean I can defend you.”

Hyunjin let out a quiet, “Whoaaa.”

“You’re like the revengers!”, Felix piped up from next to him. Changbin glanced down to see him draw a bright pink heart and two stick figures holding hands. Cute. “Like the Hulk.”

“You mean the Avengers?” Changbin bit his cheek to keep him from laughing.

Felix nodded and focused on his drawing again.

When Minho stepped out of the shower, he fell onto the couch with a loud sigh, Seungmin loudly complaining that he ruined his drawing because of it.

“Sorry.”, Minho smiled at Seungmin. “It still looks pretty though, good job.”

Seungmin smiled back at him sheepishly and continued drawing. Changbin felt extremely tired and wondered how Minho managed to still keep his eyes open. How did his parents ever get through raising Changbin and his sister? 

At around seven, most of the members seemed to be getting sleepy as well and they decided it was bedtime. They got most of them to go to bed pretty quickly, but Felix proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Minho was currently tucking in Chan while Changbin was trying to convince that nothing bad could happen to him if he just went to sleep. He would even leave the light on.

Felix looked sad. “I miss my mom…”

Changbin’s heart broke a little bit. “I know, Lix. It’s okay, you will see her very soon.” He felt a bit helpless and didn’t really know what to say. When he looked over to Minho leaving a curled up Chan, he found that Minho was already looking over to them.

A second later, Minho joined Changbin kneeling next to Felix’ bed. “What would help you to fall asleep, Felix?”

Changbin was startled by the softness of his voice and he felt stupid, seeing Minho handle everything so calmly. 

Felix shrugged and pulled the blanket further up to his face. “I’m scared. Can I sleep in your bed?”

Minho huffed out a laugh. “We will stay here with you until you fall asleep, deal?”

Felix smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

This is how Changbin found himself squished next to Minho who was lying between him and Felix on the bed, Felix curled up next to Minho, small hand clutching on to Minho’s t-shirt.

At one point, Changbin tried to get up, but Felix’ head quickly shot up with wide eyes. He lied back down, glancing over at Minho. He could tell that Minho was trying hard not to close his eyes, but eventually lost the fight, his eyelids fluttering shut. Changbin stayed still for a few moments, Chan’s soft snoring coming from the other end of the room and by the sound of the rustling on his other side, Felix seemed to be falling asleep too.

The warmth from Minho’s body was comfortable and Changbin closed his eyes for a second, willing them open a moment later. He couldn’t fall asleep here. After making sure Felix was finally asleep, Changbin softly tugged on Minho’s arm.

“Wha-”, Minho grumbled sleepily and Changbin put a finger to his lips to signal Minho to be quiet. He tugged on his arm again to get him to leave the bed.

After trudging out to the living room quietly, they both sank down on the couch, exhaustion slowing their movements.

“Kids are a lot of work.”, Minho mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes to wake up a bit.

Changbin hummed in agreement. “I have a newfound respect for every single parent on earth.”

Minho chuckled. “Your poor parents, you must have been a nightmare of a child.”

“Hey!” Changbin crossed his arms in front of his chest. “How would you know?”

He lightly kicked Minho’s leg next to him, who didn’t even react. “I just know. Not everyone can be as perfect of a child as me.”

Changbin rolled his eyes at him. “Pfff, yeah sure. I wish I had known you when we were young, I’m sure you were the most annoying kid on the planet.”

-

Surprisingly, both Minho and Changbin and the kids fell into a new routine pretty quickly. They spent the next day playing games, reading stories and enjoying a talent show the kids put together, that ended in Minho and Changbin performing My Heart Will Go On while Jisung accidentally almost gave Hyunjin a black eye. Minho and Changbin took turns entertaining the members and cooking and it seemed to be going a lot smoother than the first day.

Changbin asked the members throughout the day if there was anything that they were struggling with or needed help with but the answers he received didn’t help him. While Chan wanted to be two meters tall, Jeongin wanted to have a pet jaguar and overall, it just didn’t seem that there was anything in need of fixing in their fabric of the universe.

On the third day, Changbin woke up feeling awful, terrible, miserable, bad. When he joined Minho and the others for breakfast, Minho shot him an alarmed look.

“Are you sick?”

Chan and Seungmin who were sitting next to Minho looked up at Changbin with big eyes.

“No, just-” Changbin’s voice came out raspy and he winced at the sound of it. He was extremely cold and tired.

Minho scooted over to him and placed a cool hand on his forehead. “Eat and then lie down on the couch. I’ll get you a blanket and some tea.”

Something about Minho’s commanding yet concerned tone twisted Changbin’s stomach into a knot. He nodded and did as he was told. As Minho carried away the empty plates, the kids gathered around Changbin. 

“Are you going to die?”, Jeongin asked with a scared face.

Changbin chuckled. “No, I’m fine. Just a cold.”

Minho returned with a cup of tea for Changbin and got the members’ attention. “Alright, today our patient is Mr. Seo. Who wants to be Mr. Seo’s nurse for the day? This is an important special mission so only really cool children can do it.”

Six hands shot up at lightning speed and Minho grinned. “Alright, then you will all be chosen for this mission. The mission is, make Mr. Seo healthy again. How do we do that?”

Before anyone could answer the question, Minho continued. “Easy. When he wants anything, bring it for him. If you can’t do it or it’s dangerous, come to me. And don’t annoy him so he has time to rest.”

The members nodded and Chan immediately hopped up. “I will get the blanket!”

The other children protested loudly and they all ran off to Changbin’s room.

“No fighting”, Minho called after them and sat down next to Changbin. “You alright?”

Changbin nodded and sipped his tea. “Sorry. I’ll try to help as best as I can.”

Minho shook his head and smiled softly at Changbin. “It’s alright. I think they’ll be passionate about playing nurse for a while.”

The members returned with not only Changbin’s but also two more blankets ‘just in case he was still too cold’ and before long, everyone was huddled together on the couch and blankets on the floor to watch a movie.

Jisung had taken it upon himself to lie down on top of Changbin’s legs so that he could be the first one to know if Changbin needed anything and Minho was sitting next to him. Slowly, Changbin found himself drifting off to sleep again, head resting against Minho’s arm.

When Changbin woke up, Jisung was still lying on top of his legs, the movie on tv replaced by some nature documentary. The rest of the members and Minho were gone.

“Where is everyone?” Changbin slurred his words a bit, still half asleep.

Jisung turned to face him. “They are making you soup! But I’m here if you need anything! I’m the head nurse! Minho said that there is a hingary in hospitals and I want to be the boss!”

Changbin stared at him for a moment. “What’s a hingary?”

Jisung giggled. “You’re silly if you don’t know it.” The tv got his attention again and Changbin closed his eyes again.

He was woken up a little later by Jisung crawling off his legs, joining the other kids at the coffee table to eat, Minho settling down next to Changbin, keeping an eye on them. He held out a bowl of soup to Changbin and Changbin felt that knot in his stomach again as he saw Minho’s face.

“Here. Eat. I made chicken soup for you.”

Changbin took the bowl gratefully and sat up to eat his soup in silence. It warmed him from the inside and he thanked Minho for it.

“Are you healthy now, patient?” Jeongin asked, eyes fixed on Changbin.

“It will take a little bit longer for him to be fully healthy but you are great nurses, you’re doing a good job.” Minho’s voice was sweet and calming and Jeongin beamed at him before going back to eating his soup.

Changbin nudged Minho with his elbow. “Hey, what’s a hingary?”

Minho looked confused. “Hingary?”

“Jisung said they have it at the hospital.”

It took Minho a moment to stop laughing. “He means hierarchy.”

“Why would you teach them such hard words?” Changbin grumbled into his soup bowl and Minho chuckled again.

The domesticity of this whole situation made Changbin feel weird. It was comfortable and nice, but weird. He couldn’t figure out what it was.

-

After dinner, the kids played for a bit, Minho sitting next to Changbin reading up more on what else they could try to get their members back to normal. Changbin dozed off once again and was startled awake by Jisung laughing loudly.

Minho had apparently taken a little nap too, sitting up, his arm slung around Changbin’s shoulders, head resting on top of Changbin’s, phone dropped into his lap. It seemed like he was still asleep and Changbin motioned for Jisung to be a bit quieter.

They stayed like this, with the members playing a bit more, until Changbin felt Minho move and slowly detangle himself from him.

“Sorry. Fell asleep.” Changbin could have sworn that Minho was blushing but didn’t mention it. He just nodded and watched as Minho got up to clean up some of the mess the kids had made.

They decided to order pizza for dinner and by the time Changbin was done eating, he was feeling a lot better. Jisung was once again crawling on top of his legs and placed a small hand on his forehead.

“Oh no, you have a fever!” Jisung looked worriedly at Minho, who replaced Jisung’s hand with his and chuckled.

“No, his fever is actually gone. Good job, nurses.”

The boys grinned proudly at Minho and Changbin and for a moment, Minho was just crouched down above Changbin, hand on his forehead, intense eye contact between them.

Eventually, Minho cleared his throat and moved away from him, gathering the pizza boxes and ushering the boys to brush their teeth and get to bed.

By the time Minho got back, Changbin was watching tv, curled up in the blanket again. Minho sat down with him wordlessly and pulled the blanket over himself as well, scooting closer to Changbin.

Changbin looked over and Minho just stated, “I’m cold.”

They watched tv in silence for a while. It was Minho who voiced their anxieties. “What are we going to do if they don’t turn back?”

If only Changbin knew. He let out a sigh. “Let’s give it a few more days. Maybe we just fell off a ladder and are stuck in an alternate dimension while our bodies are in a coma in the real world.”

Minho snorted but didn’t reply. He turned to his side, facing Changbin and looked at him for a while. Changbin turned his attention to him. “What?”

Minho didn’t say anything for a long time, just looked at him until he smiled. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Don’t leave me alone with them again, it’s exhausting.”

“You’re doing well, though.” It was true. Minho didn’t seem to struggle with their current situation. If he was exhausted, he didn’t let it show. The boys listened to him. The thought of Minho reading them the book the other day crossed his mind. The knot was back in his stomach again and Changbin had the terrifying suspicion that he had figured out why he felt like this.

“This show is shit. Give me the remote.” Minho interrupted his thoughts and poked him in the ribs. “Give it!”

Changbin scrambled for the remote that had gotten sandwiched between their legs, accidentally grazing the inside of Minho’s thigh. He froze and his eyes darted over to see Minho staring at him with the same expression. Minho scooted back a bit, ducking his head as Changbin averted his eyes, found the remote and handed it to Minho without a word.

Minho switched to a different show and their silence hung heavily in the air. Changbin was glad when he heard little footsteps tap toward them.

“Can I have a glass of water?” Hyunjin looked at them with a sleepy face.

Minho jumped up from the couch hastily and brought Hyunjin a glass of water before tucking him into bed again. Changbin used the time to take a deep breath and gather his thoughts. Why was it so fucking awkward betweem them?

He didn’t have much time for his mental breakdown as Minho returned a few minutes later, sitting up next to Changbin now, still getting under the blanket.

The rest of the evening went by without any weird incidents, though Changbin’s mind was racing and he found it hard to fall asleep that night.

-

After breakfast the next morning, Changbin and Minho played some kids word game that Changbin had picked up at the store the other day. The cashier had given him a funny look when he bought it.

They were trying to build sentences but struggled with some words. At first Changbin was worried since their brains also seemed to work on a children’s level now, but Minho said that in the stuff he read online, this was apparently common and didn’t leave a lasting effect after the people turned back to normal. Then again, he read that in a paranormal reddit post.

“Amazing…” Seungmin mumbled, staring at the word tile.

“Amazing means great or cool. Like you could say ‘Changbin is amazing.’” Changbin winked at Seungmin who pulled a face. Minho snorted across from him and plastered an innocent look on his face when Changbin shot him a look.

“What does this mean?” Felix held a tile up to Changbin to read it. 

Changbin took the tile and read it out loud. “ _ Gorgeous. _ That means really beautiful, super pretty.”

Felix looked at him for an example. 

“Like.... Minho is gorgeous.” Changbin sometimes cursed his mouth for speaking before his brain had given it permission to do so. He cursed it even more now.

Hyunjin and Seungmin broke out in laughter and said that Minho looked like a bird and Changbin hoped that Minho didn’t hear what he said. A look over to him confirmed that he had though. Minho was staring at Changbin with a look that Changbin couldn’t really decipher. 

Minho licked his lips, eyes still fixed on him. This was not good. Not at all. Changbin was definitely feeling things and that was really, extremely, completely not good. Changbin cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the kids. “Let’s see your sentences! Who wants to go first?”

The members yelled over each other to be first and Changbin let his mind be focused on them for now. He would deal with his mess later.

-

Minho and Changbin prepared dinner together, Changbin mostly in charge of occasionally stirring and cutting up vegetables.

“Gorgeous, huh?” Changbin almost dropped the knife at Minho’s question. 

Changbin muttered a quiet, “Don’t let it get to your head.”

A loud noise from the living room made both of their heads shoot up. They exchanged a worried glance and sprinted off to the other room immediately.

Jisung, Felix, Hyunjin and Chan were sitting on the floor, looking up at a back to normal, fully grown Seungmin and Jeongin standing in the middle of the room.

“What the fuck!” Changbin was shocked, surprised and glad at the same time. Above all that though, both him and Minho could not hold back their laughter at the sight of them. They had been wearing the kids clothes Changbin had bought a few days earlier and those obviously did not grow up like them, leaving them in spandex-like tight shorts and crop tops with animal faces stretched across their chests.

Once they had stopped laughing and Jeongin and Seungmin returned in regular clothes, the four of them sat down in the kitchen.

“What did you do? Tell me exactly what you did or said”, Minho urged them on.

Jeongin shrugged. “Jisung told me something about that animal show from yesterday, I was just sitting there. I didn’t do anything.”

Seungmin agreed. He had been putting the tiles of the game back in the box.

Changbin let out a frustrated groan. 

“Did you guys do anything?” Seungmin asked.

Minho shook his head and replied, “No we were cooking… Oh fuck, the food!” He sprinted over to the stove to try and salvage the dinner. Seungmin and Jeongin decided to head back to the living room to watch the others and check if anything was happening while Minho and Changbin resumed the dinner.

Changbin’s heart was racing. If two of them turned back to normal, that must mean the others would too. Right? But how?

-

Apparently the sudden growth spurt did come with some side effects. Jeongin and Seungmin almost fell asleep while they were still eating so they took over bedtime duty and tucked the other members into bed before heading to bed themselves.

This left Minho and Changbin with the dishes and more questions than answers.

“So if it wasn’t them, was it us that caused it?” Changbin was wondering out loud, deep in thought as he put the clean dishes away.

Minho thought for a moment. “But we didn’t do anything. We were cooking but we cooked before too and nothing happened.”

Changbin hummed, putting the last plate away and sinking down on the chair at the kitchen table. “Okay, let’s recreate.” He cut an invisible onion with an invisible knife. “I was cutting vegetables, you were at the stove.” He looked over to Minho who immediately assumed his position at the stove. “And then?”

Minho cleared his throat. “I said…  _ gorgeous, huh? _ ” The tips of his ears were red, Changbin could see it from where he was sitting.

Changbin looked down at the table quickly. “And I said,  _ don’t let it get to your head _ .” His voice came out quieter, less confident, than intended.

Minho walked over to one of the bedrooms and disappeared for a moment before returning with a defeated look. “Nothing.”

Changbin sighed as Minho sat down on the chair opposite him. “So not us then.”

“Changbin…”

The way Minho said his name made him look up, Minho’s dark eyes fixing him with an intense look. His breath hitched for a moment.

“Gorgeous, huh?”, Minho repeated in a low voice, teasing, raising an eyebrow - a sly grin curling up a corner of his lips.

Changbin swallowed hard and forced himself to act normal. “Like I said, don’t let it get to your head, Minho.”

Minho held the eye contact for a moment that seemed to last forever. He rolled his eyes then and got up. “Of course not, Amazing Changbin.”

Changbin was left confused sitting at the kitchen table, too lost in his thoughts to ask Minho where he was going. When Minho came running back to him a moment later, his excited voice ripped him from his thoughts.

“It happened again!”

-

Three down, three to go. After seeing a full-size Felix sleeping in his bed last night, Minho and Changbin had stayed up a bit longer, trying to recreate their discussion again and again - thankfully with less intense eye contact and suggestive undertones, because Changbin was pretty sure his heart would have given out if he had to go through that again - but nothing happened.

They eventually gave up and went to sleep. The next morning, Changbin woke up late to the sun shining on his face. He turned around and tried to go back to sleep before checking his watch. The shock of it being noon already made him jump out of bed to find three kids and four normal sized members in the living room. They were playing card games, Jisung and Hyunjin trying to help Felix win by spying on the other members cards.

“Sorry, I slept too long.” 

Seungmin and Jeongin complained about Jisung and Hyunjin and tried to tell them that cheating was bad, while Minho got up from his spot, gifting his cards to Chan, who thought that having more cards is a good thing, when the goal of the game was to get rid of them.

“There’s breakfast in the kitchen, you want a coffee? We let you sleep longer in case you’re not a hundred percent healthy yet.” Minho didn’t wait for Changbin’s answer and handed him a mug of freshly made coffee.

Changbin took it gratefully and sat down at the kitchen table. “No further developments then, I take it.”

Minho shook his head and sat down with him, his leg bumping against Changbin’s under the table. Changbin expected him to move it, but he didn’t.

“Don’t worry. I think they’ll get back to normal soon, it worked for the others.” Minho seemed cheerful this morning, giving Changbin an encouraging smile. He let out a soft chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” 

Minho shook his head and averted his gaze. “Your hair… you look-”, he paused, the last word of his sentence quieter, “-cute.”

And there it was again. Changbin couldn’t deal with this shit. He couldn’t explain what had changed in the past few days but everything Minho did or said had a strong effect on him. 

“Guys! Changbin! Minho!” Seungmin’s yelling prompted them to leave the kitchen and join the others to find Chan had grown back to his usual self as well. “I don’t know what kind of magic spell you guys chant secretly, but it works!”

Changbin swallowed as a dawning realization hit him. It wasn’t a spell. It was a feeling.

-

Minho didn’t know. Changbin was pretty sure that Minho didn’t know that everytime Changbin’s chest hurt because of something he said and he felt like his head was spinning one of their members turned back to normal. At least Changbin hoped Minho didn’t know.

This was just an inconvenience, nothing major, nothing serious. Just a dumb, stupid feeling that would go away over time. 

He kept trying to come up with a scenario he could put them in where Changbin would suffer because of stupid Minho without Minho finding out about this and was lost in his thoughts while the other members played with Hyunjin and Jisung and tried to figure out why the members had changed back to normal.

He let out a frustrated sigh and Minho shot him a questioning look. “What’s wrong?”

Changbin turned away from him. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

“Wanna take a walk?”

He was surprised by the sudden invitation. It was a pretty cold day, windy and grey. Minho was not the type of person to willingly go out and walk around in this kind of weather out of the good of his heart.

“Sure.”

-

They walked around for a while, their breaths forming little clouds in the cold air.

“What’s on your mind?” Minho was walking next to him, so close their shoulders bumped occasionally, his face covered up to the nose by a thick scarf.

Changbin sighed, watching his breath drift through the chilly air and disappear. “I think… I think I know why they changed. I mean back into themselves.”

Minho stopped suddenly. Changbin stopped and looked back at him. His eyes were wide, fixed on the pavement. Oh no. Minho knew.

Before he could say anything, Minho started walking again. “Are you sure? It could be just a fluke. What if they really just had to fix their own issues?”

Changbin snorted. “By putting tiles into a box? I doubt it.” He didn’t want to or know how to continue his sentence. He was sure Minho knew, Changbin had given himself and his feelings away somehow, and he didn’t have the courage to say it out loud.

The noise of their footsteps in the freshly fallen snow seemed loud in the silence. 

Minho stopped again, this time looking directly at Changbin. “I’m sorry.”

Changbin didn’t know if he should feel scared or glad. Getting rejected without having to confess is not a usual situation people find themselves in, Changbin guessed.

“No I-” Changbin was interrupted by Minho coming closer to him before he could finish.

“I’m really sorry, don’t hate me for this but we need to get them back. You don’t have to worry, I’ll get over it, I won’t bother you.” As soon as Minho had stopped speaking, he pulled his scarf down below his chin, grabbed Changbin’s arm and dragged him closer, pushing his lips onto Changbin’s.

Changbin thought his legs might give out. Everything happened so fast that his brain barely had time to realize what was happening before Minho’s lips left his again.

The cold air hitting them pulled Changbin’s head from the clouds. Minho was still standing in front of him, head hanging low, still holding Changbin’s coat sleeve.

“Wait-” Changbin needed a moment. “What do you mean?”

Minho let out a noise that sounded almost like a whine. “Don’t make me say it.”

Changbin lifted Minho’s chin up to make him look him in the eyes. “Answer.”

“I-” Minho blinked rapidly a few times. “I have, you know, feelings. For you. Non-friendly feelings.” He finally let go of Changbin’s sleeve. “And the members… they turned back to normal whenever my, uh, heart did a thing. But like I said, I’ll get over it, please don’t ever mention this ever. This never happened.”

Changbin felt like his brain was going to explode. He thought a million things at once and then his mind blanked out and he leaned forward to press another kiss on Minho’s lips. Minho let out a soft noise at the contact and looked scared when Changbin pulled away.

He didn’t know why but he just laughed. He couldn’t stop laughing. All this worrying for nothing.

Minho looked at him like he was a madman.

“S-sorry, hah… I was so worried!” Changbin’s laughter died down. “I have them too, you know. The non-friendly feelings. I thought it was me.”

Minho gave him a doubtful look. “You’re making fun of me.”

Changbin shook his head and brought their faces close together, their breaths mixing in the air.

“I mean it.”

-

When they returned back to their dorm, the other six, now adult again, members were waiting for them with accusatory faces.

“What did you guys do?”

“Why did you not charge my phone while I was a fucking child?”

“Are you really doing weird magic spells?”

“You fed me  _ eggplant! _ ”

Changbin just smiled and looked over to Minho who gave him a wink. 

**Author's Note:**

> let me know ur thots my people


End file.
